Sant'Antonio di Padova is a Gothic-style,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church located on via Vittorio Emanuele in central

Acireale Acireale (; , locally shortened to ''Jaci'' or ''Aci'') is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. It is home to ...

in the region of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

History and description

A church at the site was built after the plague of 1466, and dedicated to

St Sebastian Sebastian (; ) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this did not kill h ...

. There was likely an oratory at the site where the church was erected. When a new onslaught of the plague afflicted the town late in the next century, a new church was commissioned. This church was consecrated in 1652 to

Saint Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua, OFM, (; ; ) or Anthony of Lisbon (; ; ; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor. Anthony was born and raised by a wealth ...

. The

1693 Sicily earthquake The 1693 Sicily earthquake was a natural disaster that struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, then a territory part of the Crown of Aragon by the Kings of Spain Calabria and Malta, on 11 January at around 21:00 local time. This earthquake was ...

nearly razed the entire structure. The present church with a single nave houses frescoes started by

Pietro Paolo Vasta Piero or Pietro Paolo Vasta (31 July 1697 - 28 November 1760) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in the east of his native Sicily. Biography He was born in Acireale. and initially trained with both the painters Giacinto ...

. In 1755, while frescoing the central nave with the ''Glory of St. Anthony'' he was afflicted with a stroke. The wall frescoes were completed by his son Alessandro.Parco Culturale Ecclesia - Terre dell'Etna e dell'Alcantara
website, entry on church, texts by Anna Coco, Maria Coco, Antonella Agata Di Gregorio.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonio Padua Acireale 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Acireale